Frankfurt: Two Deutsche Bank AG employees have been suspended after it used external auditors to examine whether staff were involved in manipulating interbank lending rates, German magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing no sources.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank on Sunday declined to comment on the article, referring to its quarterly report, which said it has received subpoenas and requests for information from the US and European authorities in connection with setting interbank rates.

Investigators in the US, Europe and Japan are examining more than a dozen big banks over suspected rigging of the London interbank offered rate (Libor).

Britain’s Barclays Plc has been the only bank to admit wrongdoing, agreeing last week to pay a fine of more than $450 million.

The Libor rates, compiled from estimates by large banks of how much they believe they have to pay to borrow from each other, are used to determine interest rates on trillions of dollars worth of contracts around the world.

A spokesman for Frankfurt-based private bank Metzler said one of its investment companies has joined a number of class action suits in New York against banks accused of manipulating Libor rates.